Full-Size K'NEX Pinball Machine

Introduction: Full-Size K'NEX Pinball Machine

This is a project I have been working on in my spare time for the last 2 months. I've always been a very big pinball enthusiast and decided to put my K'NEX and engineering background to use. I started out with a simple rectangular shape piece the size of my "ideal" pinball machine size and then changed pieces out as I saw fit. First I added flippers, then a launch ramp, then some action items, raised it and put a tilt to the shape, and the rest was just development and experimenting.

Everything works fantastically! The ball is more sluggish than I had anticipated but is still able to activate the targets upon impact. Most of the machine is continuous play, but the rocket launchers and catapults are all manual reset. With constant velocity motors it will be very difficult to come up with an auto-reset mechanism that doesn't interfere with the firing mechanisms.

I had ideally imagined putting acrylic as the play field base material, but it was going to be more expensive and difficult than I was ready to justify. The cardboard pieces were fairly easy and quick to put in, and when I figure out the design I want I can print something out at office depot and screen graphic the entire top.

Awsome project man. With a background in Mechanical engeneering I can really appreciate the hard work and countless hours of thought and tinkering you invested into this beast. However, although I focus a bit more into practical engeneering such as internal combustion engine desing, and machine work, I like to fool around with my old college buddies and modify toys and the like. If you check out my page you can check out some simple things i've done with LEGOS and K'nex. keep up the good work bro!

probably the best Knex machine I have ever seen (with the exception of a working Knex computer thingy) but it looks extremely solid and everything looks and works so well!! The only thing that I could want for on this would either be:-A scoring system (very hard to do though)-More paths (or make the current ones more exciting)-A delay on the ball catch mechanisms so it holds the ball for a bit not just shoots it straight out...Fantastic job man! What an awesome project!!!